It is not confirmed which staff are being referred to, but they are believed to be in the company's head office.

Tweeting with the hashtag #hmvXFactorFiring, the anonymous tweeter took over the @HMVtweets account. The previous tweet had been sent on January 14.

The tweeter apologised from having been away from the verified account for so long, and revealed the account had originally been set up by an unpaid intern. "Sorry we've been quiet for so long. Under contract, we've been unable to say a word, or -more importantly - tell the truth," the Twitter account wrote.

Senior managers appeared to be struggling to shut the feed down, with tweets being deleted within minutes, but the perpetrator continuing to post.

"We're tweeting live from HR where we're all being fired! Exciting!!" the first one read.

"There are over 60 of us being fired at once! Mass execution, of loyal employees who love the brand."

Panic in head office appeared to ensue. "Just overheard our Marketing Director (he's staying, folks) ask "How do I shut down Twitter?" the account reported.

"Under usual circumstances, we'd never dare do such a thing as this. However, when the company you dearly love is being ruined and those hard working individuals, who wanted to make hmv great again, have mostly been fired, there seemed no other choice.

"Especially since these accounts were set up by an intern (unpaid, technically illegal) two years ago."

The hashtag #hmvXFactorFiring was trending on Twitter, even after all the tweets had been deleted. Twitter users had urged the account holder to change the password.

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On Thursday, the joint administrators of HMV confirmed that 190 redundancies have been made across the Companies’ head office and distribution network.

There have been no redundancies across the retail network with all stores remaining open and continuing to trade.

Deloitte's Nick Edwards, said in a statement “Since our appointment as Administrators over two weeks ago, we have been assessing the financial position of HMV.

"Following this review, a number of redundancies at the head office and distribution centres have been made. Although such decisions are always difficult, it is a necessary step in restructuring the business to enhance the prospects of securing its future as a going concern.

“We have been very pleased with the level of interest in the business as a going concern, whilst the response from customers has demonstrated the demand to see HMV remain on the high street. As a result of all of these factors, I remain hopeful we will be able to secure a future for a restructured business.”